This book is not only about histories. It's also about the way of life of various long-lost civilizations notably the Persians, the Greeks (apparently there were so many nations then), the Egyptians, the Scythians, and many more. An interesting mix of history, anthropology, geography (I hate this part because there are no illustrations or pictures), political and social sciences...this book is not only quite thick, but provides a really vast description on those above mentioned people. The details given in the book makes me grateful I live in the current age.

The first half of the book was kinda boring but the second half was superb. I especially love reading the battles in Marathon, Salamis and Plataea. Total EPIC. Battle of Thermopylae was not so bad, but I was surprised with so little details on the battle itself, considering there are already two movies about it (AFAIK), i.e. The 300 Spartans and its poor remake, 300 dan probably even poorer sequel (why on earth Zack Snyder and Frank Miller keep on defiling ancient history??).

I think Herodotus made some exaggerated statements, such as the amount of troops brought by Xerxes to invade Greece. Almost 3,000,000, huh? Did the then world population even top that? Don't think so. Maybe around 150,000 to 300,000 would be more believable. There are so many names of people, places, nations, races, etc that can give you a headache. But whatever, I still like this book because it gave me a window to the ancient yet highly illustrious past which is almost forgotten by the current generation.

دوستانِ گرانقدر، با آنکه زنده یاد «هرودوت» این مورخ نامی، در برخی از اخباری که ارائه نموده، در مورد ایران خصمانه برخورد کرده و در جاهایی نیز نوشته هایش بسیار با واقعیت فاصله دارد، امّا در هر حال میتوان گفت که یکی از کتبِ تاریخی مرجع میباشد که برخی از اخبار و رویدادهایی که نوشته، تنها در همین کتاب یافت میشود... این مورخ نامی زحمات بسیار زیادی برای بر جای ماندن تاریخ برای انسانهای امروزی کشیده است و مشکل فقط و فقط همان تحریف هایی است که بعضاً به دلیل دشمنی دیرینه با ایرانیان، وارد اخبارش کرده است... البته اخباری را که تحریف شده است را اگر بر تاریخ ایران تسلط داشته باشید، به خوبی متوجه میشوید.. به گونه ای که در هرکجا که ایرانیان یا فلان پادشاه ایرانی را کوچک انگاشته، بدانید که کینه و بداندیشی از سوی «هرودوت»، در پشتِ آن رویداد و خبر، نهفته است
درکل، به عنوان مکمل میتواند کتاب مناسبی جهت فهم تاریخ سرزمینمان و همچنین تاریخ یونانیان و رومیان باشد
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
در بند 141 از تاریخ «هرودوت» اخباری از «کوروش بزرگ» نوشته شده که بدون تردید از خواندن آن لذت میبرید و به شعور و خرد نیاکانمان افتخار میکنید
در بند 141 نوشته: یونانیانِ این سرزمین (منظور آسیای صغیر بوده است) که مغلوبِ «کوروش» شده بودند، سفیری نزد او فرستادند و تقاضا کردند که با آنها به همان نحو رفتار کند که با پادشاه مغلوبِ لیدیه (کرزوس) رفتار کرده بود. یعنی در امور داخلی آنها دخالت نکند و همان امتیازها را برایشان بشناسد. «کوروش» جواب مستقیمی به آنها نداد، ولی این مثال را برایشان آورد: نی زنی به کنار دریا رفت و دید ماهی هایِ خوشرنگ در آب شنا میکنند. پیش خود گفت: اگر نی بزنم یقیناً اینها به خشکی خواهند آمد. ولی چندان که نی زد، اثری از ماهیها نیافت... پس توری برداشت و به دریا افکند و عده ای از ماهیها در آن افتادند... وقتیکه ماهیها در تور میجستند و می افتادند، نی زن گفت: حالا بیهوده می رقصید، میبایست آنوقت که نی میزدم میرقصیدید.(رقصیده باشید)...پایان
یاد «کوروش»، آن ایرانی بزرگ و خردمند، تا همیشه زنده و پاینده باد
«پیروز باشید و ایرانی»

Loved this to no end.

I know I made a New Years resolution to only read economics and personal investing books, but dammit I walked by this on my bookshelf too many times. And I was at Keplers the other day fondling the new Landmark edition (which weighs about 20 times my paperback edition), which got me in the mood for some nutty stories about the ancients.

This is what I call a "Godfather" book because as you read it a lot of cultural references will suddenly make sense. (I didn't watch the Godfather until relatively late in life -- like 25-ish I think. After watching it I understood what all the parodies and jokes were about.)

Anyway, The Histories is like gym class with swords. Everyone's fighting someone else over land, kidnapped daughters, misunderstood oracle predictions, etc... In between the battles we will get some background on different cultures that Herodotus encounters. Some of the details are not for the delicate -- we read about public tupping; we learn why Egyptians wait a few days before turning over female corpses to the undertakers; we learn who lies with their wife "in an unnatural way" to avoid having kids.

I recommend printing out a map and looking it over for a while before jumping into the book. There is a nice map in the wikipedia entry for Herodotus. In my paperback edition (1964, Penguin) there are only two maps, and they have some major omissions. The first book doesn't make a lot of sense if you don't know where Medes is or what part of Greece is Ionia.

I'm traveling a lot this week, so I'm looking forward to escaping into this book for a few hours at a time.

খুবই ছোটবেলায় চাচার মুখে শুনেছিলাম, "ইতিহাসের জনক হেরোডটাস"। সেই ছোটবেলা থেকেই মনের গভীরে সুপ্ত-বাসনা ছিল, "বড় হয়ে হেরোডটাসের বই পড়ব"; অবশেষে আমি বড় হয়ে গিয়েছি, আমি হেরোডটাসের 'হিস্টোরিস' পড়ে ফেলেছি। তবে কে জানত আমার মত হেরোডটাসের ভাগ্য তার চাচার সাথে জড়িত থাকবে। তবে দুঃখ হল এই যে প্রায় সকল "প্রথম প্রেমের" ছ্যাকা খাওয়ার মত, হেরোডটাসের 'হিস্টোরিস' আমাকে হতাশ করেছে; যেন অনেক আশা বুকে নিয়ে সম্পুর্ণ নিরাশ হয়ে ফিরে আশা। যাই হোক, প্রথম প্রেম তো সসময়ই প্রথম, চাইলেও ভোলা যায় না। ......

হেরোডটাস জন্মেছিলেন হেলিকার্নাসুস (বর্তমানে তুরস্ক) নামক এশিয়ান গ্রীক কলোনীতে। অনেক সম্ভ্রান্ত পরিবারেই জন্মেছিলেন হেরোডটাস, তার চাচা ছিলেন গ্রীক মার্চেন্ট আর পরিব্রাজক। খুবই ছোটবেলা থেকে চাচার কাছে মুগ্ধ হয়ে শুনতেন পৃথিবীর বিভিন্ন প্রান্তের আজব আজব সব কাহিনী। কিন্তু তার চাচার ভুলের কারণে মাত্র ২৩ বছর বয়সে দেশ ছাড়তে হয় হেরোডটাসকে। তাই হেরোডটাসকে বলা হয়, "Historian not by choice, rather fate"। ভাগ্য তাকে ইতিহাসবিদ হওয়ার জন্য তৈরি করেছেন। হেরোডটাসের আমলে আরোও শতাধিক হিস্টোরিয়ানের নাম জানা যায়, কিন্তু এক হেরোডটাস ছাড়া আর কারো লেখা সারভাইভ করে নি। এটা অনেকটা ঐতিহাসিক সত্য যে, হেরোডটাস তার বেশিরভাগ কাহিনী হেকাটিয়ুস থেকে কপি করেছেন। তাহলে প্রশ্ন জাগতে পারে, কিভাবে হেরোডটাসের মত সেকেন্ড গ্রেড একজন ইতিহাসবিদের লেখা সারভাইভ করল? এই প্রশ্নের উত্তর খুজতে আমাদের যেতে হবে, গ্রিসের গোল্ডেন এইজ বা সোনালী সময়ে যখন পেরিক্লিস ছিলেন গ্রীসের স্ট্র্যাটেগয় বা কমান্ডার পেরিক্লিস প্রথম স্টেট ফান্ড ব্যবহার করে একটা পাবলিক লাইব্রেরি তৈরি করেছিলেন যেখানে প্রায় ৩০ হাজার প্যাপিরাস সংগৃহীত ছিল। যে কেউ চাইলে এথেন্সের এই লাইব্রেরীতে তার বই/লেখা জমা রাখতে পারতেন। কথিত আছে যে, হেরোডটাসের বয়স যখন পঞ্চাশাধিক তখন তিনি এথেন্সে আসেন (৪৪৭ বিসি) এবং তার "হিস্টোরিস" লেখা শুরু করেন। তিনি এথেন্সের মুক্তমঞ্চে যখন তার লেখা বই পড়ে শুনিয়েছিলেন, এথেন্সবাসী নাকি মুগ্ধ হয়ে ৬০ ট্যালেন্ট (প্রায় ৬ লক্ষ ডলার) পুরস্কার দিয়েছিলেন। তবে বইটা পড়লে বারবার কেবল এটাই মনে হয় যে, হেরোডটাস এথেন্সবাসীকে মুগ্ধ করার জন্যই এই বইটা লিখছিলেন।যাই হোক, পেরিক্লিসের বানানো সেই পাবলিক লাইব্রেরিতে হেরোডটাস তার হিস্টোরিস ডোনেট করেছিলেন এবং ঠিক এখান থেকেই হেরোডটাসের হিস্টোরিস সম্পুর্ণ অক্ষতভাবে উদ্ধার করা হয়েছে। ইতিহাসের নির্মম পরিহাস।

প্রত্যেক হিস্টোরিয়ানই কোন না কোনভাবে বায়াসড, হেরোডটাস বায়াসড গ্রীসের (স্পেশালি এথেন্স) প্রতি; হাজার হোক তার মাতৃভূমি, বায়াসড হওয়���টাই স্বাভাবিক। হেরোডটাস থিউসিডিডিস এর মত লজিক্যাল আর কোহেরেন্ট না। অনেক বেশি আউলাঝাউলা তার লেখা। আমি জানি না সিসেরোর কেন মনে হইছে হেরোডটাস ইতিহাসের জনক তবে আমি আমি স্ট্র্যাবোর সাথে একমতঃ "There is too much nonsense in Herodotus!" হেরোডটাসের মতে, "ইথিওপিয়ানদের সিমেন কালো!, নেবুচাঁদরেজার কে মহিলা, আল্পসকে বলেছেন নদী, জারক্সিসেস আর্মি হিসেব করেছেন ৫ মিলিয়নের উপরে যেটা প্রায় ইম্পসিবল!, হাজারো মিথকে তিনি সত্যি হিসেবে ধরে নিয়েছেন"। আবার মাঝে মাঝে অনেক বেশি রেশনালিস্টিক কথাবার্তাও লিখেছেন। There are So much Bullshits as History!! হেরোডটাসের হিস্টোরিস পড়ে বারবার মনে হয়েছে এটা একজন লোকের লেখা না; হয় এটা কয়েকজন মিলে লিখেছেন অথবা অন্যের চোথা মেরে দিয়েছেন।

(কন্টিনিউ)

I read this with my book club, well mostly. No one else finished because either their interest waned or their time was taken with other matters. I had both the interest and the time and continued to the end. This Oxford edition translated by Robin Waterfield was good. Usually introductions have me wondering why but this one was quite helpful in preparing me for reading Herodotus. I also appreciated the end notes, in particular the summary at the beginning of each, and the maps. I found myself perusing the maps to figure out where Herodotus was describing.

Although this does have a lot of names and is graphic in the descriptions of various ancient peoples’ practices, I was able to keep view of the bigger storyline thanks to the aforementioned introduction and end notes. Divided into 9 books, I have two that are my favorite. Book 2 describing Egypt I found quite fascinating. The description of the land and the animals captured my imagination. Book 7 began with Xerxes moving his army to attack Greece and ended with the famous Battle of Thermopylae. That battle is one of my favorites to read about, so intriguing.

I’m not sure I will read the whole thing again, but I can see picking it up to re-read parts. Plus I have found myself thinking about it and contemplating when I’m not actively reading.

As a lifelong history buff, it had been a source of great private embarrassment to me that I had not taken the time to read Herodotus, the father of historical inquiry. Now, at last, the deed is done, although I will have to go back and reread certain parts to keep things fresh. As a first impression, having just finished this book for the first time, my only regret is that I did not read this sooner, and that I was not exposed to some of the wonderful stories contained in these histories in school. From my limited exposure to the classics, I have come to appreciate their value to a true liberal education. It is my goal to read (or reread) classical history from the primary sources.

Now, a description of the Histories themselves. The entirety of Herodotus' work - his "inquiry" - constituted an effort to examine the root causes of the Persian Wars (or as Herodotus would put it, the wars between the Hellenes and the barbarians) by giving the conflict as much historical and cultural context as possible.

Thus, much of the Histories are devoted to exploring the comparative histories of the Greeks and Persians, as well as the history and culture of all the peoples who had contact with either civilization. Persian history is described from the rule of the Medes to the rapid growth and military success of the Persian Empire in the 6th century BC. The histories of the Mesopotamians, Egyptians, Syrians, Libyans, Lydians, Ionians and Scythians are also discussed, as are their peculiar cultural practices, as each of these peoples either fell directly under the Persian imperial ambit or were threatened by them in some way. The culmination of the histories is an intimate account of the two Persian invasions of mainland Greece, and the heroic efforts of the Greek cities to persevere against seemingly insurmountable odds. Perhaps the most famous events described by Herodotus are the battles of Marathon (490), Thermopylae (480), and Platea (479).

Through scores of entertaining stories and anecdotes, Herodotus brings the grit, the turmoil and the human drama of the Greek world convincingly to life. The Greeks one encounters in Herodotus (as well as in Thucydides and Xenophon) are not the serene, marble figures of our popular imagination. They are not, as we imagine them, men in togas pacing around empty colonnades stroking their beards, contemplating the nature of reality. They are emotional, mercurial, honorable, dastardly, rational, fanatically-religious, zealous, disciplined, and absolutely ruthless. It is this very visceral portrait of the Greeks that make them simultaneously enigmatic and endearing. Perhaps more than we would like to admit, they remind us of ourselves.

Herodotus deserves reading as the father of classical history, and because his Histories are a profound story of human complexity in their own right.

Talk about an on point beard!



A surprisingly fun read and certainly worth it for historical significance alone.

Autor da história da invasão persa da Grécia (princípio do século V a.C.), conhecida simplesmente como As histórias de Heródoto.
Heródoto é o pai da História!
Heródoto foi o primeiro a gravar o passado e a considerá-lo um problema filosófico ou um projecto de pesquisa que podia revelar conhecimento do comportamento humano.

Unreal book, at the intersection of Greek, Lydian, Persian and Egyptian history, and at the intersection of history and legend. Full of fascinating anecdotes and surmises, signs and wonders.

Tarihte yazılmış ilk tarih kitabı olma özelliği taşımasından ötürü dünya edebiyatı açısından önemli bir yere sahip olan Herodotos'un "Histories / Tarih"i benim gibi Antik Yunan Edebiyatı'nı tam anlamıyla bitirmek isteyen okuyuculara yönelik bir eser. MÖ 5. yüzyılda yazılmış olması nedeniyle içinde bir sürü yanlış barındıran eseri okurken yazarın harikulade gözlem ve araştırma yeteneğine ve de en önemlisi bunları bir araya getiriş şekline hayran kalmamak elde değil. Pers İmparatoru Cyrus / Kyros'dan başlayarak sırasıyla Cambyses / Kambyses, Darius / Dareios ve Xerxes / Kserkes'in hikayesinden 300 Spartalı'nın hikayesi olarak bilinen Thermopylae Savaşı'na kadar Themistocles ve Leonidas gibi önemli tarihi figürün içinde bulunduğu birçok önemli tarihi olayı okuma şansı bulduğumuz kitapta Mısır tarihine bile rastlamak mümkün. Herodotos'un coğrafi tasvirlerini inanılmaz sıkıcı ve gereksiz bulmama rağmen karakter hikayelerini çok beğendiğimi söylemek isterim. Okudukça insanoğlunun ne kadar vahşi olduğuna bir kez daha tanıklık ederken insanların aslında hiç değişmediğini açık bir şekilde görüyorsunuz. Yine de fazla özel isim barındırması nedeniyle okuması oldukça zor ve gerçekten sabır gerektiren bir eser olduğunu söylemekte fayda var. Kısaca, Antik Yunan Edebiyatı'nın son halkası olduğunu düşündüğüm Herodotos'un "Tarih"ini okumadan önce Homeros, Virgil, Sophocles, Euripides, Aeschylus ve biraz Platon okumak şart.

30.03.2015
İstanbul, Türkiye

Alp Turgut

http://www.filmdoktoru.com/kitap-labo...

Herodot Tarihi
Histories
The History

Herodotus (MÖ 484-425)

Çeviren: Müntekim Ökmen
Yunanca Aslıyle Karşılaştıran ve Sunan: Azra Erhat
1.bs. 1973
640s.

Histories
The History, Historia, Araştırılmış haber, hikayeci tarih, nakliyeci tarih.

Cicero (MÖ 106-43): "Herodotus: Father of History".

İçindekiler:

· Birinci Kitap: KLIO
· İkinci Kitap: EUTERPE
· Üçüncü Kitap: THALİA
· Dördüncü Kitap: MELPOMENE
· Beşinci Kitap: TERPSİKHORE
· Altıncı Kitap: ERATO
· Yedinci Kitap: POLYMNİA
· Sekizinci Kitap: URANİA
· Dokuzuncu Kitap: KALLİOPE
· NOTLAR : s. 55-589.
· Herodotos’ta Ölçüler
· Soy Çizelgeleri
· Kronoloji
· Dareios ve Kserkes Döneminin Başlıca Olayları
· Dizin: s.597-640.

HALİKARNASSOS'LU HERODOTOS TARİHİ ya da HER BİRİ BİR MUSA ADI TAŞIYAN DOKUZ KİTABI.